Rotary engine



E. ULLAND.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLxcATmN FILED FEB. 12, 191e.

Patentmune 10, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2. l

E. ULLAND. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 1:58.12. 19H2.

'Puteum' June l0, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

E. ULLAND.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION man FEB.12.1918.

Patented June 10, 1919.

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ROTARY ENGINE. vAPPLlcMrmN FILED FEB. 12. 1918.

l ,306,23." y Patented J une l0, 1919.

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EVEN ULLAND, OF MINNEAPOLIS, IlIINN-IESOLA.` l

ROTARY ENGINE. j

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 10,1919.

j Application 'learebniafy 12,1918.. 'serial No. 216,765. e'

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that-I, EVEN ULLAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at` Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines, of which the following is a specification.`

j My invention relates to rotary engines and has for its object to provide an engine having two rotary piston heads working in an` nular piston chambers into ,which livesteam is admitted alternatelysothat energy will be transmitted in a constant manner.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will appear'in connection with the detailed description thereof and are particuf larly pointed out in the claims.

Referringto the drawings, Figure 1 is a view partly in vertical section taken at about the line 1-1 of Fig. 2`but with the 'portion at the upper right side a little in frontof the line anda portion at the upperfleft side a 'side view of one of theV admission valves showing its operating connection. 'Fig'. 10 is a detail showing the annular gasket coperating with the annular piston. [FigJll isa detail view at right angles to Fig. 10.' Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig.10 showing the gasket held in diff'erentmanner. Fig. 13is a View at rightangles to Fig.' 12.` Fig. 14 is a detail of the mechanism connected vto one end of the gate. Fig. 15"is an endview ofthe gate showing,V the gasket in place. Fig. 16 is a view' at right angles `to Fig. 15. t

In the engine shown'Y in the Vdrawings a duplicate arrangement of the piston chambers, annular 'pistons `and j rotary pistonA heads is providedfand engine .casting is made in three sections 4, 6 andvS rigidly secured together in suitable manner,` as by bolts 10. The three part casting is formed with a pair of annularpiston 'chambers 12 partly within the intermediate sectionfand partly within the outer sections o-f the casting. The seetions 4, 6 and 8 attheir central portions are spaced apart to formV annular 'passages for the relatively thin annular pistons 14 having collars 16 which are secured to a shaft 18 journaled in the casting. The castings are preferably provided with annular gaskets 15 to make a steam tight lit with the pistons, as shown in Figs. 1,10, 11, l2 and 13. These gaskets may be pressed against the pistons by steam admitted-through passages 17, as shown in Figs. 12 anfd113; j On the outer circumference of each annularpiston isa piston head'20`which`fits thecorresponding annular piston chamber. The piston heads of the two pistons are arranged at diametrically opposite points `and swinging gates 22 are provided in each piston chamber for cooperation therewith. These gates are secured to oscillatorytrunnions 24 which carry adjustable counter-weights 25. Gaskets 23 are preferably provided in thecasting to make a steam tight joint with the mounting of the gates. The gates on their ends are provided with gaskets V26 to engage the side walls ofthe piston chambers. Preferably I provide seats 28 in the casting into which the swinging Vends of the gates are adapted to fit, and the annular'pistons are of slightly less diameter than the, diameter of that portionof the casting which is 4provided with these seats -so that. the pistons may rotate whenv the gates are seated. However, the

end of the gate may beshaped to (it the curved surface of the casting, as shown in Fig. 6. At points close tobut just ahead of the swinging gates 22 live steam admission ports 30 open through the casting into the respective piston chambers. These admission ports lead. from a steam `chest 32 on the casting and receivesteam from a supplypipe 34. For opening and closing the admission ports oscillatory admission valves 36 are mounted in the casting and theservalves have projecting stems 38 equipped with'short arms 40 which are connected by links 42 with second arms 44 pivotally mounted on a projection from the casting.` The pivotal connection between the arms 44 and links 42 have laterally projecting rollers 46 which work in endless profile cam channels 48 in cam wheels 50, one at each end of thepiston chambers and which are rigidly secured to the shaft 18. The cam wheels 50 have outer prole cam channels 52 in which ywork rollers 54 on short arms 56 connected to the trunnions 24 of the swinging gates. s

` Each annular piston chamber has an exof the other.

haust port 58 located close to the underside of its respective gate 22 as shown 1n Fig. 2.

The engagement of the rollers. 54 with .the cam grooves 52 will limit to some extentA oscillatory movement of the gates V22 lout it is desirable 4to limit these movements them into upward positions whilethe pisi. lback to `operative position.

ton heads are moving past. The timing is such, that the gates will be returned to operative positions as quickly as possible after the piston heads' have moved past the same. The cam channels 48 are of such form that they will open the admission valves 36 as soon Aas ythe piston heads have passed the gates 22 and the latter havebeen oscillated Furthermore, thesaid cam channels are of such form that the ladmission valveswill be kept open during approximately the firstv ninety degrees ofmovement vof the piston heads .and then will cause saidpfvalves to close. Hence the piston heads will be driven by live steam through about ninety degrees of their move# ment'whereupon the admission valves will close and the confined steam will be allowedlto act "by expansion. Live steam will be admitted to one annular piston chamber when the piston head in the other chamber is inthe position indicated by dotted linesinFig. 2 `so that a very steady applicationof energyavill be imparted to the power shaft 18. Exhaust ports 58 are always open and hence the exhaust will occur as soon as the piston heads have passed their respective ports. The power shaft is mounted in bearings 64 as shown in Fig. 5 and this sha-ft at one end mayhave a governor pulley 66 for connection with a suitable governor, and at its other end may have a large gear 68.1neshing with a smaller gear 70 on a shaft 72 which may bev a dynamo shaft. c

AThe operation of my rotaryengine will be readily understood Vfrom the above description and the advantageswill be obvious.- Steam will be applied tothe rotary piston heads in a very eectivemanner and on account of the piston heads being one hundred eighty degrees apart the energy will be transmitted in a steady manner. VFurthermore, as will bevapparent from Fig. 1 of the drawings, the annular pistons are made as thin as is practically consistentwith suficient strength7 and since they are of annular disk form they may be relatively thin as ,compared with the width of the piston chambers or the lateral dimension of the piston heads.V A,This is of particular advantage in Van engine of this character in which live steam lisadmitted for only aboutinl'netyclegrees of rotation ofthe piston heads. It

will be apparentfrom an inspection of Fig. Y

2 that the pressure in theA first quadrant'of the piston chambers is greater than it is 1n the other quadrantsandrthat in the fourth quadrant where the steam is exhausted the pressure is very much less than it is in the first quadrant. If the thicknesses of the annular pistons were equalk tov the width of the pist-on chambers it is evident that the pressure transmitted through the, pistons to the shaft would be muchv greater on one side thereof than on lthe other'l and'would heads A,were not thus spaced@V f Iclaimz` A 7 1. A rotary :enginecmprising'iacasting provided with 4an annular ,piston` chamber, a shaft extending through 'said casting centrally of said annular chamber, said casting Vhaving an annular passage extendingfrom said shaft to said pistonchamber,fa rotary, annular piston .in said annular passage, said piston being of less diameter than that .of

the portion of the casting which constitutes the interior wall of said piston chamber, :a piston head on said Vannular piston working in said piston chamber, .algate'mountedto swing up and down in said piston chamber, the latter being 'provided in its interior'wall with a seat for` the Aswinging end of said gate, and aV steam chest having'an admission port opening into said piston'chamloer adjacent one side of saiclgat`efthe` piston chamber having an exhaustA port'v adjacent the other side of said gate. f Y

2. A rotary engine comprising :a casting Y provided withztwoy annular piston chambers, a shaft extending through said CaSlngceIltrally of said annular chambers, two rotary pistons secured vto-saidshaft,ja piston head on veach of said rotary pistons operating in said annularv chambers, the two piston'` heads being arranged one hundred eightydegrees apart, a gate mounted to swingnp and down in each of said annular chambers,` a steam chest having two admissionports each openi ing into one of lthe annular chambers. aflaj cent one side of the gate therein, each of said annular chambers havi an exhaust port adjacent the other side o the gate, admission valves for opening and closing each of said admission ports, two cam wheels secured to the aforesaid shaft onek on each side of the casting, each of said cam wheels being provided with two cam channels one outside of the other in the face of said wheels, connections between one of said channels and admission valve for operating the latter and connections between the other of said channels and one of the gates for operating the latter, the inner cam channels being so formed as to open the admission valves shortly after the piston heads have passed the same and to close said valves when the piston heads have moved substantially ninety degrees, and the outer cam channels being so formed as to open said gates just before the arrival of the piston heads and to close said gates as soon as thepiston heads have passed the same.

3. A rotary engine comprising a `casting provided with two annular piston chambers, a shaft extending through said casting oentrally of said annular chambers, two rotary pistons secured to said shaft, a piston head on each of said rotary pistons working in Copies of this patent may be obtained for said annular chambers, the two piston heads being arranged one hundred eighty degrees apart, a gate mounted to swing up and down in each of said annular chambers, a steam chest having two admission ports each opening into one of the annular chambers adj acent one side of the gate therein, each of said annular chambers havin an exhaust port adjacent the other side o the gate, admission valves for opening and closing each of said admission ports, two cam wheels secured tothe aforesaid shaft one on each side of the casting, each of said cam wheels being provided with two cam channels one outside the other in the face thereof, an arm pivoted at one end to the casting, a roller extending from the other end of said arm and lying in one of said cam channels, an arm extending from the stem of each of said admission valves, a link connecting said arms, a roller lying in the other of said cam channels and an arm upon one end of which said roller is mounted, the other end of said arm being secured to the trunnion of one of said gates.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aix my signature.

EVEN ULLAND.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

